A Senior's Suggestion
A few peaceful days slipped by.
"Here, have some slime."
Slime for a snack… Well, it was really just gelatin poured into water-drop molds, but I had made fruit-and-vegetable slime jello all the same.
"Waaah!"
"Umm…"
The reactions could not have been more different. Reni lit up; Luca eyed the spoon with deep suspicion.
"It's okay, Luca. I made this batch less sour."
This time I had blended blueberry with broccoli. Mild overall, with a faint sweetness. No one would call it delicious, but Reni ate it so happily that I decided it was fine.
As for Luca…
I waved the spoonful of jello in front of the child's tightly sealed lips, then popped it into my own mouth.
"Mmm, tasty."
I dangled the spoon before his face again, then whisked it back to my mouth. After a few rounds of this, Luca flailed his hands.
"…Aaah!"
"Okay, Luca gets some too."
The second he opened his mouth, I slipped the spoon right in.
"…"
"Pretty good, right?"
"…"
"Daddy's gonna eat it all, then? Nom."
"Eung-ah! Daddy!"
When I pretended to take another bite, Luca bellowed "Daddy!" with pure outrage.
"Alright, alright. Our Luca gets to eat too."
After snack time, I put the kids down for their afternoon nap.
I cleared the little table and spread a wide blanket in front of the sofa; the children rolled and tumbled across it in delight until sleep finally claimed them.
Thankfully, the blazing August sun did not reach the spot where they lay.
I left the terrace door open, drew the lace curtains, and switched on the ceiling fan. Even if it stayed a little warm, a soft breeze felt better than the air conditioner.
The doctor had praised Luca as a truly healthy baby. Reni, though, still looked fragile no matter how carefully I watched him, so I fretted over him even more than over the infant. Lately he had been eating well; I could only pray he would grow sturdy soon.
I tucked a light blanket over the sleeping children and rose.
I had wanted to finish a new doll for Reni to take back to the cathedral, and luckily the velcro fabric had arrived that very day.
I still had my doubts about a slime plush, but I got to work anyway.
Whirr…
Whoever invented the sewing machine deserved endless thanks. From the day I brought it home, it had proven endlessly useful.
As I cut the fabric to the pattern, a line from the Manito App floated through my mind: Turn the children's imaginations into reality with your own hands.
Did this count? A slime doll you could stick stars all over its body was not something you could buy in stores—it had come straight out of Reni's head.
"…"
If it did count, maybe I needed to make a few more and hand them out to the kids who would be arriving at the group home. I was pretty sure the app had promised bonus points for sharing happiness with other children…
Twenty-odd minutes of stitching and overthinking later, the doll that my craftsman's skill had finished so quickly… looked like my first real failure.
"No, what is this. Is this even right…?"
A plump sky-blue body, round eyes stitched in deep blue thread. Once I stuck the yellow star-shaped embroidered patches with velcro all over it, the poor slime looked as if someone had smacked it hard on the head and stars were spinning around it.
Was this really okay? What if Reni was terribly disappointed?
I had worried for nothing.
Reni clutched the slime doll—nearly as big as his own torso—and carried it proudly back to the cathedral.
The soft rabbit plush I had hastily sewn in case he hated the slime got carefully laid on his bed at home. That alone made it clear which doll he preferred.
"Reni, you like it that much?"
"Yeah, Daddy! It's the best!"
Well, if he was happy, that was all that mattered…
I helped the cheerful boy out of the car. Reni ran toward his mother waiting on the bench and immediately held up the doll to show her.
After greeting the sisters who had been watching over him, I pulled the excited four-year-old into a tight hug.
"Daddy will come again in two days."
"Okay."
"Our Reni. Eat well, listen to the sisters and Father and Mom… You can do all that, right?"
"Yeah!"
Already his second weekend of this, Reni beamed and waved bye-bye.
"Luca, let's say bye-bye to big brother. Bye-bye until the day after tomorrow."
Luca only opened and closed his little fists, looking sulky.
He clearly understood what was happening. By now he simply hated not seeing his big brother on the weekends.
"…"
It was still too early, but someday Luca might want to spend weekends at the cathedral with his brother. Or he might just get used to the pattern and prefer having Daddy's attention all to himself every weekend.
Right now, though, I was half-terrified he would start crying. Luckily Charlie had brought toys that completely distracted the baby on the drive home, so we got through it without a meltdown.
At the pub, Luca took his usual sprawling nap while I performed. The moment the guitar started, his eyes closed on pure reflex—a habit I had trained a little too well, if I said so myself.
Greg sang the summer-memory lyrics in a soft, almost poetic voice. The crowd loved it.
I had finally reached the point where I could glance at the audience while I played, answering the occasional meeting of eyes with a small smile as we kept going.
Once we moved into the autumn set, where the lyrical melodies and lyrics would shine even more, the response would only get better. I pictured the video views shooting straight up to match.
If we opened the studio the way Cassandra talked about, we could upload clean studio versions of the covers on our autumn setlist first. The live pub footage was fine, but there would definitely be demand for polished tracks too. Who knew—maybe Greg would get so popular he would become Cassandra's second managed YouTuber.
"…"
It would be nice if we could get some investment.
Saving every penny until we could open a studio was the proper way, but could a channel still on the rise wait that long? Outside money would cut the wait dramatically.
The trouble was, I did not know a single person with spare cash ready to put into something like this. Even if they had the money, they would park it in retirement funds or stocks or something sensible.
What to do…
After the set, Greg grinned and posed for photos with the fans who came up. I politely declined and went to check on Luca.
"…"
Luca was deeply asleep, mouth slightly open, sprawled in the flying-superhero pose.
Sleep tight, little guy.
I packed up the guitar and tidied the stage for the next act. That was when Cassandra approached with someone who practically sparkled.
"Jun, Vanessa's here."
"Ah—hello. It's been a while."
"Hi! The performance was amazing!"
Vanessa was not a celebrity, but she radiated something close enough. Before more eyes could gather, we headed downstairs.
Greg tried to give us space, but Vanessa insisted he stay, raving about how impressive the set had been, so he joined us.
Before the real meal started, I fed the still-groggy baby the baby food I had brought from home.
"He's so adorable… He's grown so much since I saw him at the publisher! May I hold him?"
"I'm sorry. He gets really shy with strangers—if someone he doesn't know gets close, he cries a lot."
As if on cue, Luca stared straight at Vanessa, then loftily turned his head away.
"Aigoo. Still incredibly cute!"
Even without a camera on her, Vanessa brimmed with energy. Confident posture, a strong voice, big reactions. She and Cassandra were clearly going to get along perfectly.
Having Greg there—never one to lose a contest of friendliness—helped erase any early awkwardness too.
Three extroverts out of four…
As long as I didn't mess it up, we were fine. Just me.
Thankfully, once the food arrived and the real conversation began, Vanessa switched into serious mode. As a senior who ran a major SNS channel, every piece of advice she offered was pure gold. It showed just how sharp a business mind she brought to the work.
"From what I can see, the bigger Jun's channel grows, the more it's going to run like a fan club."
Cassandra nodded. I had to ask.
"May I ask why you think that?"
"Even if you keep posting expert-level production videos, you're not actually building a business in those fields. In the end, the image that sticks is the Golden Hand dad with a bunch of hobbies."
"I see."
Golden Hand dad. Given that the kids' videos already pulled the highest views, it made sense.
"I don't think that's a bad thing at all. The kids' videos, the various crafting videos, even tonight's performance footage—they all raise the appeal of you as a person. If you want to build a channel where Jun is the main character instead of a pure parenting channel, even more so."
I listened and nodded. Cassandra had said much the same, but hearing Vanessa confirm it made it impossible to keep backing away.
"Alright then… Jun, if your subscribers are your fans, what kind of videos do you think they'd want to watch?"
"…So I really do need to show my face?"
"Yes! Eventually you'll have to. But you clearly look uncomfortable with that right now, so how about starting with your voice?"
"Ah—my voice is already out there through the performance videos."
"Not that kind! Plus the performance videos are mostly filled with Greg's voice anyway."
"Exactly, exactly."
Cassandra chimed in with pure satisfaction. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Greg smirking until our gazes met, at which point he quickly looked at Luca.
Startled by the sudden attention, Luca tore his eyes from a noisy picture book, scowled at Greg, and went right back to the book.
Our baby had quite the temper…
I glanced at Luca and thought it over. Voice, huh…
For the sake of the channel's growth, putting my voice out there was no problem at all.
But what kind of content would I use it for?
After a moment of silent struggle, I finally raised the white flag and asked for honest advice. Luckily Vanessa answered in a cheerful tone.
"Don't overthink it. Just start by posting casual little stories often."
"Casual little stories…"
"The easiest is a vlog. Talk about your thoughts on whatever happened that day. Oh—and for vlogs, I'd upload them as membership videos first."
"Membership videos… Even so, would people really pay just to hear me talk?"
"If they like you, of course they would!"